Dubai: The United Arab Emirates has already delivered about $3 billion to Iran and agreed to release billions more under an arrangement aimed at halting Iranian attacks on the Persian Gulf state, Reuters reported citing four sources.
Two regional sources said the UAE agreed to release a total of $10 billion, with more than $3 billion already delivered. Two other sources put the total funds involved at $20 billion, saying the move was agreed in return for Iran stopping missile and drone attacks on the UAE.
Reuters said it could not determine whether the funds came from UAE money or long-blocked Iranian accounts in the UAE banking system or elsewhere.
The UAE foreign ministry issued a statement early on Saturday categorically denying reports of the transfer “including allegations concerning $3 billion”.
The UAE statement “affirmed that these allegations are entirely false and unfounded, stressing that no frozen Iranian funds have been released, transferred or facilitated through the UAE.”
The UAE statement did not provide any further specifics.
Earlier, when asked by Reuters to comment on the transfer, a UAE official said the country was trying to ease tension and foster peace.
Iran last directly attacked the UAE on May 4, when it struck Fujairah port.
SIZEABLE IRANIAN ASSETS IN DUBAI
The UAE-Iranian arrangement is set to unfold against a complex financial backdrop potentially involving Dubai, the UAE’s main commercial hub and one of Tehran’s most critical economic lifelines.
Dubai’s banks have long held substantial Iranian-linked deposits, much of them now immobilized under U.S. sanctions that police the global dollar-clearing system and expose any foreign bank dealing with blacklisted Iranian entities to being cut off from the American financial network.
On April 11, a senior Iranian source said that the U.S. had agreed to release Iranian frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, although a U.S. official swiftly denied the assertion.
The source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that unfreezing the assets was “directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”, a key issue in talks aimed at ending the conflict.
